Quest for the Gaia Stone
by Dante Sangius
Summary: When four humans from the distant future find themselves in the Great Valley, they meet Littlefoot and his friends. But they soon must go on a quest to find a legendary power before it falls into the wrong hands.
1. Chapter 1

Quest for the Gaia stone

I woke up to the feeling of warm sun on my face, and a hard surface at my back. I opened my eyes, and immediately covered my eyes from the bright sun. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light. The air was warm and humid, and filled with a faint buzzing sound.

"Glad to see you're awake." came a voice. I looked up to see Izy sitting in the shade of a nearby tree. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied back in a braid, with her bangs hanging over her blue eyes. She had her Challenger pistol in its holster on her hip, and my pistol and Gateway Assault rifle were laying at her feet.

"Hey," I said, my voice dry and scratchy.

"Here," she said, handing me a canteen. "Drink up."

I propped my self against a tree and drank from the canteen. The water that came out was the freshest I'd ever tasted. It was cold and crisp. I looked around and saw that we were on a ledge of some sort.

"So where are we?" I asked after I finished the water. "And where are the others?"

"I don't know." replied Izy, shrugging her shoulders.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, "I have no idea where they are."" said Izy.

"Well let's see if I can get them on the Comlink," I said, pulling the small card sized device from my pocket. Turning it on, I pushed the red button at its base. "Cain, Samantha, you there?" Static. "Cain, Samantha, this is Aron and Izy, are you there?" More static.

"Great," muttered Izy. "No signal."

"But it also may be that their Comlink's are damaged," I said, rising to my feet. " Now, the first thing that we need to do is figure out where we are."

I walked over to the ledge and looked out at the landscape. I saw that below us stretched a forest of what could be described as Pine trees, at least I think they were. Beyond that was vast desert like plain, and I could see mountains in the distance.

"Well, we're not on Matana obviously." said Izy.

"I know," I replied, placing my pistol in its holster. "The question is _where_ are we?"

"I think that we should worry about that later. We need to find the others."

"Cain I'm not so worried about." I said, slinging my Assault rifle over my shoulder. "With his ability, he'll pretty much find us on his own. Samantha's the one I'm worried about. Even though Cain and I have been training her to use a pistol, she's not very good at using it."

So Izy and I set off through the forest, trying to find the others. We had to climb down the ledge, which was risky, but doable. Once we were at the bottom we set off in what I deduced to be north. All the while, we were always listening for any signs of movement. Since we had no idea where we were, we had no idea what to expect; we didn't know what kind of dangers were out there.

We hadn't been walking for more than 20 minutes when all of a sudden, we felt the ground shake. It shook with such force that we were knocked off balance. When we tried to stand up again, the ground shook again.

"What's going on?" asked Izy. "Earthquake?"

"No," I said as the ground continued its rhythmic shaking. "It's to rhythmic. I've never heard of an earthquake like this."

By now the shaking had subsided. We crept over to a thick patch of ferns and peered through. What we saw blew our minds.

When we looked out through the bush, we both saw a large group of creatures. They looked reptilian and had brownish colored skin. But what really took us for a spin was the fact that they stood 17 feet tall, And had a long neck and tail, and whenever they took a step, their feet landed on the ground with a drum-like thud.

"What are those things?" asked Izy, her eyes wide.

"Not really sure." I replied.

"Do you think they're dangerous?"

"No, I think they only eat plants," I said pointing to one of the creatures as it ate from a nearby tree. "I think the only way they'd be a danger to us is if we got underneath their feet." Suddenly, I knew what these creatures were.

"Izy," I said. "I know what these things are."

"Well?"

"I read about them when I was a little kid," I explained. They're called "Dinosaurs." They were large reptiles that lived millions of years ago on Earth. They came in a lot of different species. I'm guessing that these are what's called a Sauropod."

"So what are you saying," said Izy, raising an eyebrow. "That some how we're back on earth, 70 million years ago?"

"Well, do you have any better explanation?" I asked. I became aware of beeping sound from my pocket. I realized that it was my Comlink, which I quickly took out.

"Hello?" I said, pushing the red button.

"Aron, is that you?" came a voice.

"Cain!" Izy and I yelled happily.

"Hey guy's," Cain said. "What's happening?"

"Well, besides learning that we're all separated, and that we're 70 million years back on Earth, nothing much." said Izy sarcastically.

"You came to the same conclusion that I did?"

"I did actually." I said "So are you ok?"

"Yeah, but I'm worried about Samantha."

"Same here." said Izy.

"I'm in the process of locating her right now," said Cain, his voice covered by heavy static. "I'll find you guy's once, I find her, or-" his voice was ultimately cut off by the static at this point.

"Crap!" I muttered, shoving the Comlink into my pocket.

"Now what do we do?" asked Izy.

"Well, we can't stay here," I said. "We should look for some kind of shelter, cause I don't want to be caught out in the open come nightfall."

"You want me to scout around?"

"Sure." I said, turning around. A few seconds later, I heard a small twittering sound and I felt something land on my left shoulder. I looked to see a small brown sparrow that rubbed it's head against my cheek.

"Just get up there and have a look around." I said and the sparrow, Izy, flew off into the air.

Izy is a Shape-shifter, which means that she can physically change her body into that of an animal. Her favorite animal forms were Sparrow, House cat, Tiger, and a Corn snake.

She was like the rest of us; we each had our own special abilities. I had telekinesis, which means that I can move objects with my mind. Samantha can heal just about any injury with her mind, which is pretty helpful. And Cain is what's called a "Remote Viewer;" he can view an event without physically being there.

After a few minutes, I saw Izy flying back towards me. As she landed, I again turned away, and after a few seconds she stepped out from behind a tree.

"So what'd you see?" I asked.

"There's a river a little ways to the north," she said. "Which runs west. I think that's our best bet right now."

"Yeah," I said, slinging my rifle over my shoulder. "I think that that sounds like a good idea."

Izy and I started trudging through the forest to the river that she had seen. Along the way we had to take off some of our outer clothes cause of the humidity. We marveled at all the plants we saw; some were quite large and others were quite colorful. I found myself having a difficult time believing that this was what the Earth looked like millions of years before any of us humans were alive, and at the same time I found myself depressed that we would eventually destroy it.

It took us a few minutes to reach the river, which was running down a gorge, but indeed flowing west. We followed it, and one point it leveled out, and we were able to find a place to refill our water bottles; I'd never tasted such fresh tasting water, even back home.

After a few hours of following the river, and observing some of the Dinosaur herds we saw, the sun was beginning to set, and Izy and I were utterly exhausted.

"We need to find a place to rest." said Izy, wiping sweat off her brow.

"I agree." I said. We started looking for a place to sleep; I didn't want to sleep in the open, so we looked in the nearby forest, and we quickly found a nice spot under the roots of a large tree.

In a few minutes I had a small fire going, and we had our sleeping arrangements, if you could call the that, laid out. We had been able to find some berries to eat, and they tasted pretty sweet, a bit like ripe Strawberries. We munched on them in silence.

"Do you think we'll find the others?" asked Izy after a few minutes.

"Of course we will," I said, popping another berry into my mouth. "Just stay positive."

It was then that we both heard it, a small moaning sound coming from somewhere nearby. Chills went up my spine as I grabbed my assault rifle. Izy instantly shifted into her Tiger form.

"Come on, let's check it out." I said. We crept through the bushes, following the sound through the thick undergrowth. We soon came upon the sight of a girl wearing blue cargo pants, a purple shirt, and blue sandals. Her blonde hair was matted with dirt, and there was a large red spot on her left side.

"Samantha!" I cried as Izy and I ran over to her. The red spot on her side was a bit damp, and she was unconscious. I lifted her shirt and saw a large gash on her side, which needed to be healed right away. I carried her back to our camp, with Izy following close behind us. Once back, I tore of a strip off of Izy's sweater as she shifted back to human.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm using it to bandage her wound," I said. "Besides, I thought that you hated this sweater anyway."

After I bandaged Samantha's wound, we decided to go to sleep. It had been a long day, and we needed our strength for tomorrow.

I was the first to wake up the next morning. I walked around, finding some more of the berries from the night before. When I got back to camp, Izy had waken up, and she was tending to Samantha's injuries.

Shortly after I started a fire, Samantha stirred.

"Good," said Izy. "Your awake. You had us worried."

"What happened?" Samantha asked, trying to sit up, but winced in pain.

"You shouldn't try to sit up yet," I said. "I'm not sure that your wound is healed."

"Wound?" she looked down at her side, and saw the red stain on her purple shirt.

"So what happened to you?" said Izy.

"I was trying to find you guys and Cain," Samantha explained. "I was following this river east, when it started to get late. I climbed a tree to see if I could find anything, but I fell, and I must've scratched myself on the way down. So where are we?"

"Well, as hard to believe as it is," I said. "We're back on our home planet of Earth, but millions of years in the past; during the time of the Dinosaurs, to be precise."

"You're kidding, right." asked Samantha, raising her eyebrow.

"Did I joke when I said I had Telekinesis?" I asked.

"No."

"Do you think you'll be ok?" asked Izy, pointing at Samantha's wound.

"Yeah." said Samantha. She took off the bandage, and pressed her hand to the spot and closed her eyes. In a few minutes, she took her hand away, and the wound was gone. She then tried to stand on her feet, but she soon fell to her knees.

"I don't think you should try walking so soon," said Izy, rushing to her side. "Your still a bit weak. Give yourself a day, and then we'll see if you can stand on your feet." Samantha nodded.

"So what do we do know?" asked Izy.

"We try to find Cain." I answered, slinging my Gateway over my back.

Izy, Samantha, and I trekked west, following the river. I carried Samantha on my back, since she couldn't walk. We walked fro a long way, experiencing a few more Dinosaur herds. Samantha looked like a kid in a candy shop as she stared in wonder at the prehistoric creatures.

We had been walking for most of the morning, and already our feet hurt, we were thirsty, and hungry. We stopped for a rest, and Izy found some more of those berries from the night before. We ate in silence, beginning to feel the almost stifling humidity.

Suddenly, the bushes to our left, rustled. I jumped to my feet, drawing my assault rifle, while Izy shifted to Tiger form. Again the rustling came, a little closer this time. We waited in tense silence, wondering what was out there.

"Wait here," I said. "I'll see what's there."

I slowly crept through the thick undergrowth, trying to make as little noise as possible. Every so often I would hear the rustling, and I would follow it. Soon, I came to a clearing, and looking through the bushes, I saw what had been making the noise.

There, in the middle of the clearing, was a Velociraptor. It stood about three feet tall, and had a mouthful of sharp fangs, but the one thing I noticed, of course, was the large, curved claw on its feet. It apparently hadn't seen me, and I wanted to keep it that way. I slowly stepped back…right onto a twig.

The twig snapped under my foot, and the snap seemed to echo through the forest. I looked up as the raptors head turned in my direction, and I swear I felt the color drain from my face.

I ran back towards Izy and Samantha as hard as my legs would go. I soon reached them and grabbed both of there arms, trying to get them to follow me.

"Hey," said Izy, obviously annoyed. "What are you doing? What's going on with you?"

I was about to answer when the raptor that I had seen jumped through the bushes behind them. Shoving Izy out of the way, I slammed the raptor into a nearby tree with my telekenisis. By now Izy's and Samantha's gaze had traveled to the raptor as it squirmed on the ground.

"What is that!" yelled Samantha.

"That's a raptor," I said. "Izy, you take Samantha and get out of here. I'll distract this thing."

As Izy carried Samantha away, I held up my rifle and pointed it at the raptor. It stood up, shook its head, and then looked at me with its carnivorous eyes. It slowly circled me, and I kept my eyes on it the whole time.

Suddenly, it leapt at me, and Ii fired a small burst at it. The bullets grazed its side, and it screeched in pain, but kept coming at me. I fired another burst, and this time, the bullets hit it in the leg, causing it to stagger.

I took this opportunity to run. I ran through the thick ferns in the direction that I saw Izy and Samantha run. After a few minutes, I caught up to them.

"Did you take care of it?" asked Izy.

"Yeah," I panted. "I wounded it, so that should give us sometime to get out of here."

But no sooner had I said that, the raptor leapt out of the ferns at us. Before I could fire some rounds or use my telekinesis, a shot rang through the forest, hitting the raptor right between the eyes. The raptor fell to the ground at our feet, dead.

"You guy's need some help?" came a voice to our left. We looked to see a boy with black hair and Blue eyes. He was wearing, brown sneakers, blue jeans, a grey shirt, and he had a backpack slung over his shoulder. In his hand was a small Challenger pistol.

"Cain!" the three of us yelled at the same time.

"Hey, what's up?" he said, leaning against a nearby tree.

"You mean besides the obvious?" said Izy, pointing to the dead raptor on the ground.

"Look, can we skip the formalities for now," said Samantha. "We need to figure out what we're going to do next."

"I agree," I said. "I'm thinking that we should continue west, following the river."

"What makes you say that?" asked Cain, holstering his pistol.

"I'm not sure. I just have this feeling that tells me to go west."

"Sounds fair to me." said Izy.

"Same here." said Samantha.

"Ok, that settles it," said Cain. "Westward we go!"

We had been walking along the river for a few hours. We had filled each other in on what had happened to each of us. We filled Cain in on how we found Samantha, and he told us what he had been doing for the past day.

Along the way we spotted a few Dinosaur herds: Sauropods, Hadrosaurs, and plenty others. We also saw a few packs of Raptors along the river, so we were careful to avoid them.

Half way through the evening, we saw a large mountain range in the distance. It stretched from the north to the south. We decided to climb over the mountains and see what was on the other side, though we suspected that it would be pretty much like this.

Scaling the mountains was a bit of a challenge. Cain and I sent Izy up a head in her Sparrow form to scout out the best possible paths to take, while Cain and I shared responsibility of caring Samantha up the slope. We had a few close calls on our accent, but we were able to make it, and with only a few blisters.

Once we were at the top, we were able to see what we could only be described as a paradise. Below us was a vast, lush valley, that stretched for a mile ahead of us. A large river ran the length of the valley through the middle, and there were huge fields and a few small forests here and there. We could see plenty of Dinosaur herds that obviously called this place home.

"Wow," said Izy, back in her human form. "This place is amazing."

"I know." I said.

"I agree." said Cain, putting his hands on his hips.

"Kind of reminds me of Matana." said Samantha.

"Yeah, it does."

"Well, I think we found us a good place to stay, we just need to figure out where we're gonna stay," I said, looking up at the setting sun. "Izy, do you think you could-"

Izy was way ahead of us. She flew down the slope in her sparrow form and disappeared from sight in the trees.

A few minutes later, Izy flew back to us and shifted back to human form.

"There's a small cave at the base of the mountain," she said. "It's big enough for all of us to sleep in. And the entrance is covered by huge ferns."

"Alright," said Cain. "Lead the way."

The decent down the mountain was a lot easier than the accent. I carried Samantha down, and soon we found the cave that Izy mentioned.

She was right when she said that it was big enough for all of us. The ceiling was high, and there was plenty of floor space for each of us.

By now, we were exhausted, and didn't even attempt to start a fire. We just found a spot to lay down, and drifted off to sleep.

I slept fitfully that night. My dreams were filled with images of people in lab coats, syringes, monitoring equipment, and other laboratory equipment. The people in lab coats crowded around me, and as hard as I tried to fight them off, they wouldn't back off.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting bolt upright on the floor of the cave, my face and chest drenched in a cold sweat. I looked around wildly, running my hands through my shaggy brown hair.

"You ok?" came a voice. I looked to my right to see Izy sitting with her back to the cave wall.

"Just a bad dream." I said, wiping the sweat off my forehead.

"Was it the Lab again?" asked Izy, moving to sit next to me. I nodded.

"Was it as bad as usual?"

"Same as always." I replied. I started to feel tears well up in my eyes. I wiped my eyes quickly, hoping that Izy hadn't seen them.

But she must have, cause she shifted into her house cat form: a strawberry blonde cat with blue eyes that seemed to glow in the night. I laid down, and she curled up next to me. I ran my fingers through her fur, and I heard her purr.

I continued to pet her, and soon I fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I was the first to awake the next morning. I looked around the cave and saw that everyone else was still asleep, so I quietly crept outside.

Once I was out side the cave, I stretched my stiff back. Sleeping on bare rock hadn't been a very good idea, but I didn't mind.

Since the others probably wouldn't be awake for some time, I decided to do some exploring on my own. I walked through the forest marveling at all the beautiful plants and flowers I saw, nothing like what I knew back home. The air was filled with the scents of the many flowers.

I had been walking for a few minutes, when I heard the last thing I had expected to hear: voices. They sounded young. I knelt behind some bushes and listened to what they were saying.

"So what do you guy's want to do today?" came a boy's voice, which sounded about ten or eleven years old.

"We could play at Bubbling Mud." suggested another boy's voice. He sounded a bit younger than the first, and he spoke in broken English.

"No, we did that yesterday." said a girl's voice. Her voice, had a bossy edge to it.

"Yeah, and it gets kind of boring." came another girl's voice, hers sounding younger than the first.

As I listened to the group, I suddenly sneezed loudly, louder than I thought possible.

"What was that?" asked one of the voices.

My heart stopped as I realized that they had heard me. I then heard the sound of approaching feet and the bushes in front of me began rustling. I turned and bolted in the direction that I had come from.

"Hey!" cried one of the voices. I didn't bother to see who it belonged to.

I ran for all I was worth through the thick undergrowth. I could hear footsteps behind me, which I took to be the voices. I tried weaving through the trees, but that didn't seem to stop them.

Suddenly, my foot caught on an exposed root, and I was sent sprawling forward, my head hitting a rock, and all went black.

"Do you think he's alright?" asked a voice.

"I think so." came another voice.

By now my head was pounding, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that they weren't focused properly, but I could see several blurry shaped around me: one was Brownish-purple, another was peach colored, another was olive green, another was brown, and the final was green.

"Ow," I said, closing my eyes and sitting up, clutching my pounding head. "What happened?"

"You tripped and hit your head on a rock." said the first voice.

"So what are you?" asked the second voice.

"Cera!" scolded the first.

"What do you mean by-" I started. By now my eyes were able to focus, and what I saw sent my head spinning; before me I saw a Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Hadrosaur, Pterodactyl, and Stegosaurus.

"WHOA!" I screamed, jumping a foot in the air, and scrambling backwards.

"Wait, we won't hurt you," said the Brontosaurus.

"Wh…wh…what's going on?" I stammered, trying to make sense of what was in front of me.

"How about you just answer _my_ question," demanded the peach colored Triceratops. "What are you?"

"I…I'm a…human." I said nervously.

"What's a human?" asked the brown Pterodactyl.

"A human is a type of creature that exists in the future.' I explained as best I could.

"So what's your name?" asked the Brontosaurus.

"My name's Aron."

"Nice to meet you," said the Brontosaurus. "My name's Littlefoot."

"Mine's Cera." said the Triceratops.

"Me Petrie." said the Pterodactyl.

"Mine name is Ducky," said the Hadrosaur, then pointing to the Stegosaurus, added. "And this is Spike."

"So how did you get here?" asked Littlefoot.

"I wish I knew." I said, ribbing my head.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not really sure how I got here," I explained. "I…just remember waking up and here I am. It's the same with my friends-

"Oh shoot!"

"What?" asked Cera.

"I almost forgot about my friends," I said, getting to my feet. "They're probably just starting to wake up. I gotta go."

"Wait, cant we meet them?" asked Ducky.

"Uh…sure, I don't see why not. Follow me."

It didn't take us very long to get back to the cave. Once we arrived, I told Littlefoot and his friends to wait outside.

When I entered the cave, I saw that everyone else was awake.

"Hey," said Samantha. "Where were you this morning?"

"I went for a walk," I said. "I didn't want to wait for you guy's, so I had to do something."

"Did you see anything?" asked Cain, putting his pistol in his holster.

"Well…you might say that."

"What do you mean?" asked Izy.

"Well…umm…" I wasn't really sure how I would tell them that I met a group of young Dinosaurs.

"Oh for Pete's sake," came Cera's voice from outside the cave, causing my friends eyes to widen. "Just tell them!"

"Who was that?" asked Cain.

"Why don't you guy's go outside and see for yourselves," I said, stepping aside. "I think it's easier if you see."

Samantha, Cain, and Izy walked outside, and shortly after, just as I predicted, yelled in surprise.

I walked outside to see Cain, Izy, and Samantha pressed against the wall outside the cave, their eyes wide in surprise, and Littlefoot and his friends staring at them, their faces full of confusion.

"What's wrong with your friends?" asked Ducky.

"D…did it j…just talk?" asked Izy, her eyes wide.

"You know guy's," I said. "If it's any consolation, I'm still getting used to this myself."

"So these are your friends?" asked Littlefoot.

"Yep." I said.

After a few minutes for introductions, my friends reaction had subsided to a degree. We explained how we got to the valley, and answered any of their questions as best as we could. Then Littlefoot and suggested that they introduce us to their parents. We were all apprehensive about that, but they assured us that it would be fine.

We spent most of the morning being taken on a tour of the valley. We met Ducky's and Spike's mother, and then we met Petrie's mother. They both seemed a bit uneasy at first, but after a few minutes, we were able to let them know that we wouldn't be any danger to them or their children.

It was after Petrie's mother that we went to meet Cera's father. The way that they shuddered as we got near Cera's "home" made me worried; and we had every right to be.

As we turned a corner and rounded some trees, we came to see a full grown Triceratops. It was dark grey, with a light grey frill above its head, and three long, pointed horns.

"That's your dad?" asked Cain.

"Yep." said Cera.

"Wow, he's big." commented Samantha.

"Come on," said Cera. "Let me introduce you to him."

We started to follow her, when I happened to look back and saw that Littlefoot and the others weren't following.

"Aren't you guy's coming?" asked Izy.

"No, we wait here." said Petrie with a nervous edge to his voice.

The fact that the others weren't coming made me nervous. As Cera led us closer, I observed that Cera was walking with a slightly nervous step, and that in turn made all of us nervous.

Cera's father suddenly turned his head to face us. I could see his eyes widen, and he charged at us. Samantha and Izy dove behind me and Cain, who had his hand on his pistol. It took every ounce of self control to keep myself from using my power to throw him aside.

"Cera, get away from those things!" he yelled.

"But Dad," said Cera. "They're not going to hurt me."

"Honest, we wouldn't do anything of that sort." said Cain, slowly taking his hand off his pistol.

"No we wouldn't." said Samantha and Izy, poking their heads out from behind us.

"Well, than tell me one thing," said her father, his aura that of a high ranking military officer. "Exactly what are you?"

"We're humans," I said. "Our kind exists in the far future, though we're not really sure how we got here."

We talked to Cera's father for a few minutes, finally able to convince him that we weren't dangerous.

After that somewhat scary experience, we went to meet Littlefoot's grandparents. It didn't take us very long to reach his nest. As we rounded a group of trees, we saw two full grown Diplodocus. They stood about 11 feet tall at the shoulder, while their necks were about 26 feet and their tails about 45 feet. Cain, Samantha, Izy and I looked at Littlefoot, and then at what we guessed to be his grandparents; we estimated that Littlefoot stood about 4' 6" at his shoulder, which was about my stomach or chest area.

_Talk about a growth spurt._ I thought to myself as we drew closer.

"Grandma," Littlefoot called. "Grandpa!"

"Hello Littlefoot," said his Grandma, looking down at us. "Are these new friends of yours?"

"Yep." said Littlefoot.

"So what are their names?" asked his Grandpa.

Thus began the same routine all over again: we introduced ourselves, told them what we were, where we came from, and that we weren't any danger.

"So, do you four have any place to stay?" asked Littlefoot's Grandpa.

"Uh…." said Cain, not sure what to say.

"Well, can't they stay with us?" asked Littlefoot.

"That would be fine," said his Grandma. "But the final decision is up to them."

"Yeah," said Izy. "We'll think about it kid."

"So what are you kids going to do now?"

"Explore, I guess." I said, shrugging.

"We'll be back later," said Littlefoot as we walked away. "Bye Grandma, bye Grandpa."

Littelfoot and his friends led us off across a field of waist high grass. There was plenty of other Dinosaurs around, which meant plenty of opprotunities for awkward looks directed at us.

I tried to distract myself by looking around at the scenery; it worked. I was amazed by the beauty of the valley. Matana was nothing like this, with all the bright colored flowers and such. The grass was the greenest I had ever seen, and the trees were huge.

After a few minutes of walking, we heard a deep rumbling sound coming from the distance. It got louder as we drew closer, an suddenly, we were at the foot of a waterfall. The water pounded into the lake at the bottom, which drained into the lake that we had seen when we first got here. There was a pleasant spray that came off of the rocks, which was nice, cause by now it was getting hot outside.

"So what's this place called?" asked Samantha, yelling so she could be heard over the waterfall.

"This is Thundering falls." said Cera.

"Wow," said Izy, raising her voice. "It's amazing."

"Yeah."

"Hey, what do you guys say we do some swimming?" I asked. Ripping the pack off Cain's shoulder, I opened it up, immediately grabbing my pair of swim trunks; we had actually all discovered a pair of our swim suites in the pack the night before.

After grabbing my trunks, I ran behind a nearby bush, and hastily stripped off my clothes and threw on my swim trunks. By this time, Samantha, Cain, and Izy had also gotten their swim gear on, and we ran to the lake. I wore a red pair, Cain had a green pair, Samantha had a purple bikini, while Izy had a blue bikini.

"Hey, how you guys do that?" asked Petrie a moment before we jumped into the water.

"Do what?" asked Izy.

"Change the color of your skin like that?" said Ducky.

" "Change the color of our skin"?" asked Cain. We looked at ourselves and each other for a few seconds.

"Oh, you mean our clothes!" I said when it finally clicked. "That's not our skin; it's called clothes. We wear it cause our bodies can't regulate body temperature."

"Then what are you wearing now?" asked Cera.

"They're called "swim suites'," said Izy. "We don't really wear our clothes when we go swimming, cause it's uncomfortable to walk around in when they're wet, so we wear these instead."

"Enough talk, let's swim!" I said, jumping in to the clear blue water. It was a bit colder than I had expected, but it was a relief from the heat.

As I resurfaced, I saw Cain cannonball in, sending water shooting into the air. Samantha and Izy waded slowly in, while Littlefoot and the others charged in, splashing cold water in my face. I splashed them back, but in the process I got Cain as well. Thus began a "splash war."

After a few minutes of that, I swam out into a deeper part of the lake. I floated on my back and closed my eyes, feeling the warm sunlight on my face, the cool water at my back, and the roaring of the waterfall all around me. I opened my eyes, and stared at the clouds, lazily drifting across the sky. I looked up at the cliff that was in front of me, seeing the almost natural ledges that were formed on the rock face. That's when I had a thrill seeker idea: I was gonna do a bit of cliff diving.

Swimming over to the cliff, I placed my hands on a low ledge, and hoisted myself up onto it. The rock was damp, obviously from the spray of the waterfall, and I was worried that I would slip. Looking around, I saw another small ledge, and reaching up for it, hauled myself onto the slick surface.

I was sure that my friends had seen me, but if they had tried to tell me to stop, I hadn't heard them: the roar of the waterfall was deafening, and it filled my ears. I climbed higher and higher; at least, that's what it felt. I was tempted to look down a few times, but I didn't.

Soon I came to a ledge that was big enough for me to stand on. I turned around, and looked out at the lake below and the valley in front of me. From where I was standing, I estimated that I was at about the height of the roof of a two story house, but of course, since I was looking down, it seemed a lot further. From where I was standing, my friends looked like toys, but I could swear that I saw the "he's a moron" expression on their faces. I looked down at the lake below me, hoping that the water was really deep. Then, saying a quick prayer, I jumped.

Time seemed to slow down as my feet left the cliff, and my stomach traveled into my throat. I'm not sure if I yelled at all on my trip down, but all I can really remember is the blue of the lake rushing up to meet me. Then, the next thing I know, their's this tremendous splash, and then I'm surrounded by water. My prayers were answered; the part I landed in was pretty deep, with enough water to slow my fall.

Once I entered the lake, I just floated to the surface and stayed that way, my brain still trying to process what had just happened, and the adrenaline still surging through my veins.

Suddenly, I feel hands grab my shoulders and arms, dragging me back to shore. I then remember seeing Cain, Izy, Samantha, Littlefoot and the others standing over me while I lay on the shore of the lake.

"Aron." said Cain, gently shaking me. "Aron, are you ok?"

"That…was…AWSOME!" I cried, sitting up and thrusting my hands into the air, nearly hitting my friends. "Dude, that was so cool!"

"Idiot, what were you thinking?" asked Izy.

"I was thinking that I was gonna get an adrenaline rush." I replied simply, a huge grin on my face.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After our time swimming in the lake, Littlefoot and his pals showed us around the valley, showing us many of there favorite hang outs. They showed us the Bubbling mud: a place where large mud pools bubbled like thick soup; not exactly my idea of a fun place. They also showed us the Tall grass: a small field of grass that rose above our heads; my friends and I held hands so we wouldn't get lost.

We spent the day exploring the valley, and by the end of the day, we had seen just about everything, and we were tired.

"So where are you guy's gonna sleep?" asked Littlefoot after Cera and the others had gone home. By now we were close to Littlefoot's home.

"I don't know." said Samantha, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'll sleep anywhere but the cave," I said. "I hate sleeping on the hard ground."

"Same here." said Izy, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Why don't we sleep there?" suggested Cain. He pointed to a small group of trees few feet away. They were fairly tall, and they appeared to be in a circular formation. The ground was soft, more comfortable than the cave floor.

"Sure." I said. We went over to the trees and Cain pulled out four small capsules out of the pack and handed them to us. We opened them, and out popped four sleeping bags. We unrolled them and positioned them so we could get comfortable.

"What are those?" asked Littlefoot.

"They're called "sleeping bags"," said Samantha, sitting down on hers. "We use them to sleep in, cause we'd get cold if we didn't."

"Oh," said Littlefoot. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that, he walked off back to his nest.

I was able to get a small fire started, and soon we were each laying on our sleeping bags and looking at the stars. We didn't really talk much, I guess with all that had happened today, our minds were still absorbing and processing it. I was still running the mornings events through my head when I heard a heavy sigh from Samantha.

"What's wrong?" asked Izy, rolling over onto her stomach.

"I was just wondering," said Samantha. "How we're gonna get home?"

"I have no real idea," I said. "But the one question I want asked is How did we get here?"

"Don't we all want to know." said Cain, rolling over on his side.

"Well, somehow we got here, and somehow we'll get out of here." said Izy.

We stared up at the stars again, and after a few minutes, we drifted off to sleep.

* * *

My dreams were again filled with the images of the Lab and scientists. Again they crowded around me, probing me, hooking me up to their monitoring equipment. I struggled against them, but they kept coming.

"Get away from me!" I screamed at them, using my power to throw them away. Then I jumped off the table, burst through a door, and ran down the hallway. I could hear them yelling, and instantly the halls were filled with the blaring of a siren. It hurt my ears, but I kept running.

As I rounded a corner, I saw a large steel door at the end of the hallway. I felt a burst of energy as I sprinted for the door and threw it open.

But just as I stepped outside, I felt my arms and legs being held back by some constricting material. I looked back to see wires and cables extending from the darkness of the Lab hallway and wrapping around my arms and legs. I struggled against it, but I could feel them pulling me back slowly. Then suddenly, there was a powerful tug, and the next thing I know, I'm flying back into the Lab, screaming the whole way.

My eyes snapped open and I started to cry, I couldn't help it; the dream was so bad, and all I could do was sob.

I looked around the clearing at my friends. Samantha and Cain were still asleep, but Izy was still awake, and she had noticed that I was sobbing.

"Did you have the dream again?" she asked, coming over to sit beside me.

"No," I said through my sobbing. "It was…different."

"How so?"

"This time…I ran. I ran for my life…but I barely made it out the door, when…when I was dragged back." I squeezed my eyes shut, triggering another wave of tears. The dream replayed itself in my mind, and I wanted it to stop.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, and saw that it was Izy. She had a pained expression on her face, like she could feel my fear. As I stared into her ice blue eyes, I felt some of my fear fade away. She smiled down at me, and I smiled back.

Then Izy shifted into her Tiger form. Her orange and black fur was dark in the night, while her blue eyes seemed to glow with their own light. I had never really noticed how beautiful her Tiger form was. I reached out and softly ran my hands through her fur; it felt like fine silk, so smooth. She closed her eyes, and a deep purring sound came from her throat; she obviously enjoyed it.

She laid down next to me, and I followed suit, resting my head on her stomach. I continued to run my fingers through her fur, and soon, I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I woke up the next day, before everyone else. I was always a morning person; I would wake up early, no matter what the time of year. I still had my head resting on Izy's stomach, since she was still in Tiger form.

I got out of my sleeping bag as quietly as possible, and stepped around my friends. Then I crept out of the grove, and went for a walk. The air was cool, and I felt a lot of energy filling my body.

I soon found a small rock quarry after a few minutes of walking. I sat down and closed my eyes. Bits of the nightmare from the night before were still in my mind, so I tried to clear it. As soon as it was, I opened my eyes and held out my hand. Several pebbles rose into the air, and started to move in a slow circle, like asteroids orbiting a planet. This kind of parlor trick was child's play for me, but I needed something to do until my friends got up.

"Whoa!" came a voice behind me, breaking my concentration. I jumped, and turning around saw Littlefoot and his friends standing behind me.

"That was cool," said Littlefoot, his eyes wide in astonishment. "How'd you do that?"

"Do what," I asked, nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"But rocks were moving through air in front of you," said Petrie, hovering in front of me. "Rocks no act like that."

"Look guys, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to us," scolded Cera, an angry look on her face. "We saw the rocks floating in front of you. We all know that rocks don't do that. So how about you tell us how they did!"

I really didn't want to tell them, since this was my biggest secret, and who knows what would happen if I told them. But on the other hand, the idea of Cera yelling at me, and possibly hitting me was enough to convince my mind to tell them.

"Well, I guess I have no choice," I said, adjusting my self so I was facing them. "But you guy's _have_ to promise that you won't tell anyone else, understand?" They all nodded.

"Ok, now where I come from, we have figured out a lot of about how things work, but there are still a lot of things that we don't know about. I have this…ability, that no one, even I, really knows how it works."

"Well, what's it called?" interrupted Cera.

"It's an ability that we call "Telekinesis"," I explained. "It allows me to move an object just by thinking about it"

"Wow." said Littlefoot, Ducky, and Petrie at the same time.

"What," said Cera, a disbelieving look on her face. "You can't be serious."

"Hey, you asked how it was possible, so I told you."

"Well I don't believe you!" said Cera.

I sighed; I guess I'd have to show her the hard way. I looked around for something to use as a demonstration. All of the things I saw would be parlor tricks. It was then that the light bulb went off in my head.

I raised my hand towards Cera, and imagined her hovering in the air, and slowly, she did.

"Hey," she exclaimed as she rose into the air. "What are you doing!"

"Showing you that my ability is real," I said, a smug smile on my face. "So do you believe me now?"

"Yes, I do," said Cera, with what I thought was a little bit of panic in her voice. "Just put me down."

I gently set her down, Littlefoot and his friends giggling at her scared expression.

"So, can you lift just about anything?" asked Littlefoot.

"Well, yeah," I said. "But there's still a limit to what I can move."

"Do your friends now about your gift?"

"Of course they do," I said. "You think I'd keep something like this from them. And speaking of my friends, I should probably get back, since they'd be waking up by now."

"You want us to come with you?" asked Cera.

"No, you guy's can wait here," I said, heading back. "I shouldn't be long."

* * *

By the time I got to our sleeping area, like I had predicted, my friends were already awake.

"Hey," said Samantha. "You're already up."

"Yeah, I've been up waiting for you guy's."

"So what are we gonna do today?" asked Izy.

"Well, Littlefoot and his group are waiting for us, so I guess we can ask them." I said.

I led the group back to the rock quarry, where we met little foot and his friends.

"Hey," said Izy. " So, what are we doing today?"

"Well, maybe Aron could demonstrate his power a bit more." said Littlefoot.

I put my hands over my face as Samantha, Izy, and Cain turned to glare at me. I knew I was history, cause I broke our cardinal rule: never tell anyone about our powers.

"You _told_ them!" hissed Samantha.

"Well, yeah; but I had to tell them, since they saw me-"

"They _saw_ you!" said Cain.

"I didn't know they were there," I said. "One minute I'm by myself, and the next, they're right behind me."

"Well you should've been careful!"

"I know. Look, what's done is done, can we just forget about it." I said.

"So, what do you guy's want to do?" asked Cain.

"Well, I was wondering," asked Littlefoot. "Do you guy's have any powers?"

"Yeah, we do." said Cain.

"Really," asked Cera. "What are they?"

"Samantha's can her heal injuries by thinking." I said.

"Can we see?"

Samantha sighed; she had been through this before, but I could tell that she didn't mind. Cain gave her his pocket knife, with she flipped open, and quickly drew the blade across her arm, leaving a small cut.

Littlefoot and his gang were about to help her, but like she had before, she held up her hand to stop them. Then, as the others watched, she placed her hand on her wound and closed her eyes. Then, as the gang watched, she lifted her hand away, and they saw that her wound was gone, and all that was left was a small streak of blood.

"Wow." said the gang as Samantha wiped the blood away.

"Yep," said Samantha. "It's quite helpful, as you can imagine."

"What about Izy?" asked Petrie.

"I'm what's called a "shape-shifter"," said Izy. "It means that I can change my body into that of another living creature."

Seeing the black look on the gangs faces, we realized that Izy would have to show them. She closed her eyes, and in a few seconds, a small Corn Snake lay coiled where she once stood. After the gang stared in wonder for a few minutes, she changed back into her human form.

"So what's Cain's power?" asked Ducky.

"He can see people and events without physically being there." This produced more blank stares, but I could saw the light bulb go off in Cain's head.

"Hey, I got an idea," said Cain. "How about you guy's hide anywhere in the valley, and using my ability, we'll find you."

"Ok." said the gang as they ran off. We gave them about twenty minutes; the valley was huge, so we had to give them plenty of time to find a hiding place.

"Alright Cain," said Izy. "Do your thing."

Cain nodded. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, and we waited.

"I got one of them," said Cain, throwing his pack over his shoulder. "Let's go."

* * *

The first of the gang we searched for was Cera. From what Cain had discovered, she was hiding in the Tall Grass; somehow she thought that it would mean that we wouldn't be able to find her; imagine her disappointment when we did.

The rest of the gang was child's play. Littlefoot was hiding by the river, Spike we found having a snack (no surprise), and Petrie thought that it would be funny if he hid up a tree. The last one to find was Ducky. We had Cain lead us to where he had "seen" her, which just so happened to be behind Thundering Falls.

"Ok," I sighed, my hands on my hips. "So who's gonna find her?"

That question was answered by the sound of the sound of shuffling of pants. I turned around to see Samantha, Cain, and Izy kneeling on the ground, with a finger on their noses. Littlefoot and the others were staring at them in confusion. To me, it only meant one thing.

"Crap." I muttered. They had used the old "Nose goes" trick; the idea was that the last one to do it, was the one to do whatever was needed to do.

I took of my shirt and shoes, and waded into the water. I waded carefully over to the waterfall, and then slowly worked my way along the rock wall. Because of the pounding water, I had to close my eyes and feel my way along the wall, and soon I felt something small, scaly, and wet. I wrapped my hand around it and felt it squirm. Immediately I pushed away from the rock wall and into the lake. I swam back to the shore, and when I reached the bank I opened my eyes and saw Ducky.

"Well," I said, grabbing my shirt, my hair dripping wet. "That's every one."

"I can't believe you found us." said Ducky.

"That's the coolness of my power," said Cain. "You could've hidden anywhere in the Valley, and we _still_ would've found you guy's."

"So now what?" said Samantha.

As if to answer her question, my stomach produced a bubbling gurgle. Everyone looked at me in surprise, and I felt a slight blush in my cheeks.

"What that?" asked Petrie, who was sitting on top of Littlefoot's head.

"That was my stomach," I said. "I just realized that I haven't eaten since before we got here."

"Yeah," said Izy. "What's to eat?"

"Let's find some Tree stars." said Littlefoot.

"What are those?"

"Come on, you'll see."

* * *

We followed Littlefoot and the gang over to a large patch of trees. They stood pretty high, with dark green leaves on the braches. Cera rammed herself against the tree, causing a few of the leaves to fall off the branches and float to the ground. I used my telekinesis to draw one into my hand: the leaf had a slightly oily feeling to it, and it had five points, shaping it like a star; hence the name "Tree star."

"So you guy's eat this?" I asked, I said, twisting the leaf around in my fingers.

"Yep." said Littlefoot. He grabbed a small mouthful of leaves and he chewed. I shrugged and brought the leaf up to my mouth.

"You're not gonna eat it," said Cain. "Are you?"

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do." I quoted simply. Then I popped the leaf into my mouth and chewed.

"So what's it taste like?" asked Samantha.

"Like a cross between Romaine and Iceberg lettuce."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

Samantha, Izy, and Cain picked up a Tree star, and bit into their leaves.

"You're right," said Izy. "This doesn't taste that bad."

We ate the Tree stars for a few minutes, and soon we had taken the edge off our hunger. After that, the gang led us off across the Valley, and we played for a little longer.

* * *

As the sun set after a long day, the gang split up and went home. My friends and I followed Littlefoot back to his nest, and we said good night.

We didn't ever need to start a fire; we were so tired that the minute our heads hit the pillows, we were out like a light.

* * *

I dreamed again like I had for the first two nights, but tonight, the dream was different.

I was running down a passage way; it looked like a tunnel. The walls were somewhat rough, the ceiling was a few inches above my head, and the tunnel was narrow. The only reason I didn't run into anything was that the tunnel was illuminated by a dim, orange glow. I was unsure why I was running, but my body was overwhelmed by a feeling of urgency.

Suddenly I entered a large cave, with a high ceiling and huge stalactites hanging from it. The room was illuminated by an orange glow that seemed to be emanating from the center of the room.

In the center of the cave was a pedestal, and as I approached it, I saw what must've been giving off the light: a fairly large stone, about the size of a tennis ball, but it was smooth as glass, and was a marbled mixture of brown and rust tones. As I neared the stone, I could feel that the air was…strange. It felt thin, heavy, hot, and cold, all at the same time.

I soon found my self standing in front of the pedestal and the strange stone. I wasn't sure why, but I felt a sense of reverence as I stared at it…and then I slowly reached out, and gently put my hand on it.

The instant my fingers touched the stone, I felt as if I had grabbed onto a telephone cable: The most intense jolt of energy surged through my body, and the next thing I know, I'm back at camp, in the Valley.

I looked around and saw that my friends, including Izy, were still asleep. I could still feel the jolt in my body,and every hair on my body was standing on end.

_What was that_? I asked myself.


End file.
